Comments on: actuarial references in the movies

By: Keith Miller

Keith Miller — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:24:29 +0000

Interested in your comments on this as I’d previously quickly researched. I am a UK based actuary (Faculty). Some thoughts:

The Apartment (classic Billy Wilder comedy set around insurance company staff and featuring actuaries)
Double Indemnity (film noir with a murder aiming to claim insurance monies)
Along Came Polly (comedy with Ben Stiller as a risk expert who is so risk averse he cleans everything befiore touching it, etc
About Schmidt (oscar winning performance from Jack Nicholson as a retired grumpy actuary)
The Faculty (not really about actuaries but about aliens taking over a college campus!)

There is also a classic “Taggart” UK TV episode about a murderer buying second hand endowment insurance policies and murdering the lives covered.

By: El Borak

El Borak — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:37:55 +0000

Thanks, both.

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:27:01 +0000

I’m with John B on this.

By: John B.

John B. — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:38:54 +0000

I wasn’t the one asked, but I can answer El Borak’s question: The question mark goes inside the quotation marks if it is part of the title to begin with. If it’s the statement that is the question, it stays outside:

“My favorite Bo Diddley song is ‘Who Do You Love?’”

“You mean to tell me you’ve never heard ‘Jailhouse Rock’?”

By: El Borak

El Borak — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:22:11 +0000

And since you’re here, Joel*, I’d like your professional opinion: should that question mark have been inside the quotes? My English major daughter would probably say yes, but to me that makes it look like the title was “Year of the Jackpot?” as if it were in some doubt…

* There’s no sense in asking a wannabe-actuary important questions, they’re a pretty tight-lipped bunch. Bastards know how many 42-year-old guys will die this year, but none of them will tell me if I’ll be among them.

By: El Borak

El Borak — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:14:39 +0000

Yeah, but what about the actuarial references in Heinlein’s “Year of the Jackpot”? Now THAT’S actuary.

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:27:13 +0000

Dude. The first rule of the actuarial profession is YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT THE ACTUARIAL PROFESSION! The second rule of the actuarial profession is YOU DON’T MAKE MOVIES ABOUT THE ACTUARIAL PROFESSION!

Or something.